The Truth, Regardless of Cost
by Mad Cow
Summary: They know he isn't dead, and they're going to get to the bottom of things, even if they die trying...(Animorphs/IaHB crossover)


My Name is... **Author's Notes:** Lesse...for all of those who do read Animorphs, this story occurs around book 45. You know, after Marco goes into hiding, but before all of the new Animorphs and the Pool ship and Tobias becoming all reclusive. And, for those who don't read Animorphs (dorks!) here's a summary of the characters....  
**JAKE-** Their 'fearless' leader. Rachel's cousin, Marco's best friend, Cassie's boyfriend, and Ax's Prince. Played by Shawn Ashmore, which should give you an idea of his looks. He can also be an asshole sometimes--oops, did I say that out loud (Hee, hee. Can you tell I don't like Jake?) His brother, Tom, is a host.  
**RACHEL-** In a sense, their kamikaze pilot. Rachel is very fearless and reckless. Cassie's best friend, Jake's cousin, Tobias' girlfriend. She has a love/hate relationship with Marco. She was played by the girl who made a cameo in 'The Boy's No Good', the girl that was his real girlfriend. Tall, blonde, and beautiful, she could walk through a mud pit and come out completely clean, and she has a talent for shopping, which causes people to think she's an airhead bimbo, but deep down inside, she has the personality of an Amazonian Warrior.  
**MARCO-** Marco is the ever entertainer. He is ALWAYS telling jokes and being sarcastic and stuff. Jake's best friend, he's in a love/hae relationship with Rachel. Marco's sort of the Hank of the group, in the sense that he's the guy who's always dating different girls, but has no steady girlfriend, like the other guys. Marco's short and Hispanic, and pretty hot (IMO). Marco was forced in one of the later books (45) to fake the death of him and his father because the Yeerks were onto him. After his 'death' he moved in with Ax and Tobias in their meadow.   
**TOBIAS**- Tobias is their 'eye in the sky', always scouting and doing surveillance. He's Rachel's boyfriend, and Ax's best friend/nephew. During the very first book, he was trapped in the morph of a red-tailed hawk. There was some more complicated plotting later, which I won't go into, but now he morphs straight from Hawk form into whatever animal. He considers the red-tail his real body. He can also turn into his old human self, but only for two hours at a time. "Human Tobias" was played by Chris Ralph, but this was before he spiked his hair. Anyway, Ax is the only family Tobias has at this point (this is before the book with his mom in it), because at this point he believes his mom to be dead, he watched his real father (Ax's brother, Elfangor...don't ask, long story) die before his eyes, and he had spent his childhood with a series of abusive, alcoholic aunts and uncles. He lives in a tree in the woods overlooking the meadow shared by Ax and Marco.   
**AX-** Ax is an alien, of a species called Andalite. He is entirely blue, and he looks a bit like a centaur from Greek Mythology, with an equine looking lower body, but a human-like upper body. He has a long, fast tail with a VERY sharp blade at the end, he has four eyes, with two in the normal place, and two on movable stalks atop his head. He also has no mouth (eats through his hooves), so he speaks with telepathy. If he was a human, he would be about the age of the other characters, perhaps a little bit older. He was a novice warrior on his home planet, and he is the only survivor of the crash of his ship. His older brother, Elfangor (and Tobias' father) was a great warrior on the home world, and he is forever under his brother's shadow. He calls Jake his "Prince", simply because he considers Jake his leader, and he believes Jake to be at the Andalite rank of "Prince". He lives in the woods with Tobias and Marco. It is unknown if Ax has a strange sense of humor, or if he just doesn't have one at all.  
**CASSIE-** Ah, last and certainly least, Cassie. I can't stand her... Anyway, she is a very moral person, always worrying about killing Yeerks and stuff. Her family owns a wildlife rehabilitation center, and she works there. She likes animals and stuff...basically think the complete opposite of Rachel, and you've got Cassie. She's Jake's girlfriend and Rachel's best friend.  
Hm...The Yeerks are alien slugs that crawl into the minds of humans and leave them unable to move, speak, whatever, while the Yeerk controls all movements...A person with a Yeerk in their mind is either a "controller", a "host, or "infested"....the leader of the Yeerks is Visser Three...a Yeerk name can be identified by a nonsense sounding word in front, followed by numbers...a Yeerk must leave their host every three days and soak in something called the "Yeerk Pool", or else they die...the "Freed Hork-Bajir" are some aliens that the Animorphs freed from the Yeerks in an early book. That should cover all of the Yeerk/Alien knowledge you need! Enjoy!  
  
Oh, and for anyone who cares, I am hard at work on the Spotless sequel! I just took a day off to write this  
Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs or IaHB. *sob* And yes, I already checked with Islandgurl...she sez me writing an AM/IaHB crossover is fine :)  
OK, now onto the story!  
  
Chapter 1  
Brooke came walking into the room where her sister and Tyler were studying carrying a case file.  
"I was just organizing the case files," She said. "And I didn't know that you guys treated Marco Mansfield."  
"Who?" Tyler asked, looking up from the math book.  
"That sophomore at your school," Brooke said. "You know, the one who died when his house was set on fire? The one they set up the memorial for?"  
Val pushed her chair away from the table. "We didn't," She said, walking towards Brooke to look at the case file. Tyler followed suit.  
"Yes, you did," Brooke insisted, pointing to the top of the page. "See, here it says that it was taken care of by vehicle 156, squad 07. That's you guys. And look here, Val. There's your initials."  
Val looked at the paper in disbelief. There, at the bottom of the page, was scribbled "VAL". But she wasn't the one to initial that page. They had never treated Marco Mansfield or his father, they would have remembered for sure.   
"If we didn't treat him," Tyler stated. "Then that means that this is a fake. Marco Mansfield must be alive somewhere."  
***  
"Hey, Jamie?" Tyler asked as he walked into the room occupied by Jamie and Hank. "Did you know Marco Mansfield?"  
Jamie looked up at Tyler, and shook his head. "Naw," Jamie replied. "He was always hanging out with some other sophomores. Kinda stuck to himself."  
"Who did he hang out with?" Tyler probed.  
"What is this, 20 questions?" Jamie asked.  
"I don't think he's dead," Tyler replied. "And I want to contact his friends."  
Jamie raised an eyebrow. "Whatever, Crazy-Boy. But he hung out with Jake Berenson, and that babe, Rachel Berenson. I think Cassie Andrews, too. But not as much."  
Tyler began to walk out of the room, with Val in tow. "Where are you going?" Hank asked.  
"To meet Jake Berenson, of course."  
***  
Jake heard a knock on his door, and rose to open it. He had the house to himself; Tom was out with his parents somewhere. Jake was tired, as they had come from an exhausting mission the night before.  
Standing there was Tyler Connell and Val Lanier. Even as a sophomore, Jake knew who they were. With Tyler as star receiver on the varsity football team, and Val one of the head cheerleaders, they were the two most popular kids in the Junior class.  
"Hi!" Val chirped. "I'm Val, and this is Tyler!"  
"Hi," Jake replied cautiously.  
"Jake, we found something out about your friend Marco," Tyler stated. "May we come it?"  
Jake opened the door to let the pair in. What had they found out about Marco? If they knew about Marco being an Animorph, then the entire team was toast. "What?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant.  
"Jake, I don't think he's dead."  
***  
Once Jake shooed Val and Tyler out of his house, he logged onto AIM. Rachel was on, no surprise. So was Marco and Ax, apparently, using two of the many computers Marco had smuggled into Ax's scoop. They were probably hacking into something. Tobias was on as well, but he wasn't a techo-geek like Marco or Ax, so he was probably just surfing the net. Jake e-mailed all four.  
**Bball24:** Hey, all. Go to our chat room, OK?  
A few minutes later, Jake, as "Bball24", Rachel, as "MallRat03", Marco, as "Studmuffin", Tobias, as "WatchOutMice", and Ax, as "Cinnabunz" were all logged into their private, untraceable chatroom Marco had created.  
**Studmuffin:** Jake, what's up? I'm sure you didn't tear me and Ax from hacking into porno sites for nothing.  
**MallRat03:** Little man, you so were not hacking into porno.   
**Studmuffin:** What if I was? Rachel, there aren't any chicks out here in the woods. Just Tobias and Ax, and I don't want to hit on them.  
**Cinnabunz:** I would not appreciate if Marco hit me. That would hurt.  
**WatchOutMice:** It's a figure of speech, Ax.  
**Bball24:** Can we get on topic? I have something important to tell. Someone knows Marco isn't dead.  
**Studmuffin:** WHAT? I thought we left no trail.  
**Bball24:** I think one of the Yeerks who was in charge of making your death look accidental screwed up. I was contacted by Val Lanier and Tyler Connell. You know how they're EMTs? Well, whoever was in charge of covering it up apparently didn't think that they would remember their night. Their files said that they treated you, but they don't remember it.   
**MallRat03:** It's a trap. I like it.  
**Studmuffin:** Well, I think we need to watch them. Make sure they're not Yeerks. Then figure out something.  
**WatchOutMice:** Who else would know?  
**Bball24:** Well, there's that other guy, Hank, on their squad. We'll watch him, too.  
**Studmuffin: **OK, I'll watch Val, Tobias can watch Tyler, and Ax can have Hank.  
**WatchOutMice:** No fair Marco gets Val!  
**WatchOutMice:** Er, Rachel, I mean...um...if Marco watches Val, he'd watch her undress. You know what he did with those other girls.  
**Bball24:** Nice save, Tobias.  
**MallRat03:** Phhhft....like you're any better. I know when you're outside my window, Peeping Tobias.  
**Studmuffin:** I so did not need to know that.  
**Bball24:** All right, Ax, you watch Val, Tobias, you have Tyler, and Marco, you've got Hank. I'm sure you know the drill. I've gotta run, Tom's home.  
**Bball24 has left the room**  
**Studmuffin:** Now that Jake's gone, it's back to porno.  
**MallRat03:** Pervert.  
**MallRat03 has left the room**  
**WatchOutMice:** Whatever, Marco. You and I both know you were just hacking into the McDonald's head computers.  
**Studmuffin:** Shut up, birdboy!  
**Studmuffin has left the room  
WatchOutRat has left the room  
Cinnabunz has left the room**  
***  
"My Lord," said the infested person, bowing to the hologram of Visser Three. "I have some information that you may find useful."  
Speak, Geran One-Five-Nine-Eight.   
"Some friends of my host have concluded that the late human warrior named Marco is not dead. Should I watch them carefully?"  
Yes, Geran. They may uncover information on the other Andalite Bandits. But if they get too close to finding about the Empire, kill them.   
"Yes, my Lord."  
  
Chapter 2  
Tobias walked down the hallway of Kingsport High School, clinging to the walls and watching carefully. Ax was elsewhere in the building, watching Val. Tobias was watching both Hank and Tyler, as Marco couldn't come into the building without being recognized. Luckily, Hank and Tyler's schedules were nearly identical, so he could watch both.  
Rachel's locker was more or less close to Tyler's and Hank's, so Tobias entertained hopes of getting to talk to Rachel during the day while watching the pair.   
Just then he heard the dreaded words out of Hank's mouth. "See you there."  
Hank veered off to the right, into the men's room, as Tyler kept on walking to class. Dammit! What was Tobias supposed to do now? He finally decided to watch Tyler, as Tyler was the guy Jake assigned him to watch.  
***  
Three days had passed, and the trio was assumed to be clean. Tyler wouldn't leave Jake alone about Marco, and was researching up a storm. The Animorphs had decided to tell the EMTs about Marco before they stumbled into something that could get them infested or killed.  
They sat the three down in Cassie's barn. "Look," Jake said. "We wanted to tell you this before you got yourself killed or worse. We know Marco's not dead."  
They brought Marco out. As they did, one of the EMTs did something unexpected. Hank pulled something that looked vaguely like a gun out of his pocket. With one pull of the trigger, a beam of light shot out and hit Marco, causing him to slump to the floor.  
Hank grinned, though it was not a comforting one. "I knew," he said coldly. "That if I just followed Val and Tyler, they would lead me right to something big! And they did! The Visser will be very pleased with me for discovering that Marco is not dead!" He smirked again. "Do not worry, your friend is not dead. My Dracon Beam is only on stun. I would not want to damage so valuable a host!"  
He shot two shots with his Dracon, and Val and Tyler were stunned as well. As he prepared to stun the others, he was hit suddenly over the head by an Andalite tail blade from behind, and dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.  
See? Ax said calmly. That is why you have me.   
"Was that a sense of humor?" Marco asked.  
Humor is not a sense, Marco.   
Jake looked at the three EMTs. "They're clean," he said, pointing to Val and Tyler. "But we need to tie that one up for three days. I suppose when his Yeerk dies, we'll give him a choice of either helping us, or moving to the Hork-Bajir Valley."  
***  
Two days later, the Yeerk fell out of his head and became dust on the floor. Hank wanted to spit on the remains so bad, but he had not been in control of his body for so long that all he could do was shake uncontrollably.  
He looked up at the hawk in the rafters, and Marco. "Two years," He choked out. "Two years." It had been two years since he was a free man. Two years ago, when he was a new EMT, the leader of his squad had been infested. Hank wanted to make friends with him, so he went along to a Sharing meeting. The rest was history.  
Marco moved over to untie him. "We'll have to wait until Jake and the others get out of school to give you the rundown."  
Two hours later, school was out, and Hank could walk on his own again. Jake sat in a chair in front of him. "Hank," He stated. "There's no easy way to tell you this. Your social life is dead. To the public, you must be dead. Until we win this war, no one can know you are alive."  
"Why?" Hank asked. He longed so bad to be in control in a football game with Tyler, or to run a call with Val. He even wanted to be in control while arguing with Jamie. At least the Yeerk had stayed with EMS. The Yeerk didn't care much for it, but it looked good for a member of the Sharing to be an EMT.  
"Look, the Yeerks know by now your Yeerk is gone. If you went back, they would re-infest you. You don't want that, do you?"  
Hank shook his head now. "Good," said Jake. "Now, you have two options. You can go to a valley, several miles away. It's inhabited by the colony of freed Hork-Bajir, as well as Marco's parents. No one will ever find you, and you'd have the option to live peacefully until the end of the war."  
"And my other option?"  
"If you choose to fight, then you can live in the meadow with Tobias, Ax, and Marco."  
Land of the techno-geeks, stated Tobias. You can expect to see Marco and Ax hacking away at all hours on their many souped-up computers.   
"I want to fight," Hank replied. "I want Yeerks to curse the day they chose me to be a controller."  
"I knew I liked you!" Rachel cried.  
"Well, then. You're in."  
  
Epilogue  
A few days after Hank disappeared, Tyler received a letter in the mailbox. No return address, no nothing.   
He opened it up, and scrawled on the paper was a note, from Hank.  
_Tyler--  
I know by now that you will have noticed that I am gone. I'm sorry to say that I am never coming back. I will miss you, Val, Jamie, and everyone else, but right now I am happy. For the first time in two years, I am free. Tell my parents I loved them, and I'm sorry that I had to leave like this. DO NOT tell anyone what happened the last time we saw each other, or you may suffer the same fate as I.   
I'll miss you, man, but this is the way it worked out.  
--Hank_  
Tyler took the paper, and crumpled it up. Of course he had already told someone about what had happened that fateful night.   
With a flip of the wrist, Terangh Five-Eight-Two, also known as Tyler Connell, threw the paper in the trash, as the real Tyler screamed in his mind, with no one to hear him but himself.  
  
  
  
_Anyway, if there are enough former Animorphys out there that liked this, I might do a sequel. You never know!_


End file.
